Kate Winslet was born in Reading, England on October 5, 1975 to Roger and Sally Winslet. Kate is the second oldest daughter of the four Winslet children (Anna, Kate, Beth, and Joss)
Kate is a very passionate and honest person which is what makes her such a great actress. "I am very passionate about my life. I am absolutely unable to hide any emotion. If I wrote a book, I'd have to call it P is for Passion. I don't go in for anything halfway. My feelings about things are instant, on the spot. And my heart is always on my sleeve."
Kate is a true English lass! She is very dramatic and has a lot of integrity. She isn’t interested in what others think about her. The fact that Kate is so “true to herself” is what draws her fans to her because it comes across in everything she does.
Combat Kate
"I'm a hardened Brit--I cannot do without my nicotine and coffee." Kate is rarely found not wearing her beloved Doc Marten boots and smoking a hand rolled cigarette. This is probably how she received the nickname 'Combat Kate'.
Kate has always been faced with the issue of her weight. While in school she was nicknamed, "Blubber". Kate has come to have a very healthy attitude about her figure. "Plastic surgery and breast implants are fine for people who want that, if it makes them feel better about who they are. But it makes
Kate the Great
these people, actors especially, fantasy figures suited to a fantasy world. Acting is about being real, being honest. Ultimately, the audience doesn't love you or want to be with you because of what your face looks like or because of the size of your backside. They've got to love you because of the honesty within your soul."
It is said that Kate was destined to be an actress. Kate was born into a theatrically based family. Her grandparents, Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre and other aunts and uncles were involved in a vaudeville troop and other productions. Plus two of her siblings are performers too. "I come from a background of actors who have never ever hardly worked and always been right on the bread line." Kate describes her family who haven't had the opportunity that Kate has to become as successful. Most of her family had small parts and have struggled during their careers.
At the age of eleven, Kate started to attend Redroof's Theatre School which is located in Maidenhead, England. At sixteen years Kate had completed her GCSE. Kate's first job was at the age of 13 when she stared in a Sugar Puffs commercial. Three years later she started a role on a British sitcom called Get Back. Kate's other television performances include Shrinks, Casualty, Dark Season, and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes.
Kate's movie debut was the Australian movie, "Heavenly Creatures"
Juliet Hulme
where she was cast as Juliet Hulme. Director, Peter Jackson recalls, "Kate impressed me straight away as an actress with enormous range." By acting in this movie, Kate received international acclaim. Kate's next film was A Kid In King Arthur's Court as Princess Sarah by Walt Disney Productions.
Sense and Sensibility, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel by Emma Thompson was Kate’s next film.
Marianne Dashwood
“I wanted to be Marianne, so she was the only character I would even talk to Lindsay (the producer) about.” And Marianne she was. Kate's portrayal of Marianne Dashwood was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. Even though she didn’t win the Oscar, Kate was awarded with a close friendship with Emma Thompson that was developed during the filming of this movie. The two are like sisters.
Sue Bridehead
Next, Kate was cast as Sue Bridehead in Jude. Jude was a cold film that really tested Kate's talent and required Kate's first nude scene.
Kenneth Branagh knew that Kate was the perfect Ophelia for his adaptation of Hamlet. Branagh had seen Kate audition for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and was very impressed with her. At first Kate was reluctant to accept the role for she was nervous about performing Shakespeare. Finally Kate warmed up to the idea.
Ophelia
And boy are we glad that she did. Winslet’s performance as Ophelia was breathtaking.
Kate's next film brought her world wide recognition. When Kate first read the script of Titanic she knew she had to play the character of Rose DeWitt Bukater. “It's terribly moving. I was in floods of tears even when I read the treatment and accepted the role there and then." She did everything she could to convince director, James Cameron that she was meant to be Rose. She even went as far as calling Cameron on his cell phone telling him,
Rose DeWitt Bukater
"You don't understand, I am Rose." In the end Cameron casted Kate as the romantic lead in his new film. Cameron later was quoted as saying, "I worked with her face, her image, her voice, 17 hours a day, and I don't want to diminish her potential by calling it a performance of a lifetime, but it's one of the most amazing performances I've ever been a party to.”
Afterwards Kate was a big factor in getting Leonardo DiCaprio to play the part of Jack. Kate recalls, "I was thinking, 'I'm going to persuade him to do this, because I'm not doing it without him, and that's all there is to it. I will have him." There were a lot of factors that finally convinced Leonardo to play Jack. "Another big reason I took the role was Kate. She's got a lot of integrity and as an actress she's extremely talented." Cameron remembers "I was looking not only for the individual skills as an actor but the chemistry between them." And chemistry there was.
Kate loved doing Titanic with Leo. The two became fast friends. "He's probably the world's most beautiful-looking man, yet he doesn't think he's that gorgeous. And to me, he's just smelly, farty Leo."
The two were the "naughty children" on the set. They were constantly playing jokes on each other and on other cast members. Co-star Billy Zane remembers, "Grossing Kate out was purely Leo's job. If he wasn't rolling back his eyelids, he was making objects d'art out of his bodily fluids." Even James Cameron got a laugh out of the two young leads,
Winslet and DiCaprio
"Leo had this long coat. He would, like fart in it and sweep it over Kate's face. Kate would just crack up." Kate did have the chance to get Leo during the filming of the famous "Drawing Scene". "Kate is great. She had no shame with it. She wanted to break the ice a little bit before hand so she flashed me. I wasn't prepared for that so she had one up on me. It was pretty much comfortable after that." Kate remembers, "I was having my makeup put on-with nothing on-and there was Leo. He saw me and went, 'Whooa!' and I said, 'We're going to spend the whole day like this; we might as well get over it now.' That broke the ice."
The two used to swap shoes since they had the same size shoes. "Leo used to laugh at my feet all the time, going, 'F***, man! Look at those things!'
There was much speculation over whether or not Kate and Leo had any sort of 'affair' during the seven months of shooting. When asked about it Kate replied, "Oh, my God, you're kidding--the whole notion! Before we met, I thought, 'I'm just going to fall completely in love with this guy.' Once I met him, I thought, 'Well it's true. Leonardo DiCaprio is incredibly beautiful, but no way.' He's just so normal and so--what's the world I'm looking for?--fundamental. Very chatty and so funny that we laughed and joked around. Everybody kept saying, 'God, you two just get on so well.' Leo and I sometimes still talk about it and say, 'Oh, should we have an affair just for the hell of it?' But we wind up agreeing, 'No, we couldn't, because we'd laugh too much. We just wouldn't be able to take it seriously." One scene that Kate enjoyed doing with Leo was the scene in the back of the renault. "The 'Rose' in me was loving the 'Jack' in him. And even though I didn't feel that way about Leo, it was quite nice to feel that way in the scene. It was quite lovely. And the cameras stopped rolling and he gets up and walks off. And I remember lying there thinking, 'What a shame that's over. Because it was quite nice.' And it was."
Kate and Leo still stay in touch and try to get together whenever one of them is in the "hometown" of the other one.
Julia
Kate's next film is Hideous Kinky which is based on the novel by Ester Freud. At first Kate’s agent was not too happy about Kate performing in this film, but as always Kate had the last say. This film was filmed in Morocco and tells the story of Julia, a hippie mom in the 1960's who is raising her two daughters. During her time in Morocco Kate contracted amoebic dysentery like other members of the cast and because of it had to miss the British premier of Titanic. But the men of Titanic had not forgotten their Rose. Armed with a bouquet of Roses they came to her hospital to be with her.
Kate’s New Love
While filming this movie Kate met Jim Threapleton who she has been steadily dating since August of 1997.
Kate’s first real love was actor Stephen Tredre whom she met while starring in Dark Seasons.
Her next film is Holy Smoke directed by Oscar winner Jane Champion.
